Who'll Stop the Rain?
by Foxotr
Summary: Set in Hard Rain campaign - Nick finds himself alone in the rain after an attack by a Tank. He sets out to find his fellow survivors, but can he find them in time to save the ones who matter most? Or will he be facing the rain and zombies alone? ONESHOT


"_Long as I remember the rain been comin' down / Clouds of mystery pourin' confusion on the ground."_

Despite the awful pouring rain around him, Nick watched the Tank fall over onto its knees, still on fire, to its death on the flooded street. He caught his breath and managed a slight smile before he noticed an awful silence. The rain and wind were starting to pick up, but usually he could always hear Ellis or Coach talking to each other and he was always able to hear Rochelle. _Aw shit. Where the hell were they?_

When the Tank had showed its ugly giant head, he had fallen behind the others on their way to a small house across the flooded street for some relief from the rain. He had heard them all shooting at the Tank ahead of him when the rain got so heavy he could barely even think. He was surrounded by an almost blinding green mist of salty, awful rain pelting him from every direction. The winds accompanying the rain were almost deafening. He had grabbed his last remaining Molotov from his belt and threw it in the direction the Tank had been. Now here he was and there was no sight of the others.

He clicked his flashlight on when he walked around the Tank. He could see blood staining the waters ahead of him. _Not good. This is not good._

Nick trudged through the water until his foot met with a body on the ground. Pointing his flashlight down, finger on the trigger of his assault rifle, he braced himself to see who the body was.

"Shit," he lowered his gun hesitantly and knelt down. "Ellis?"

Ellis looked up through the rain, trying to see through his fading vision. "Nick? That you?"

Despite the situation Nick cracked a small smile. "Yeah, Ellis, it's me. How bad are you hurt?"

Ellis coughed and laughed. "Ain't gonna lie to ya, Nick. I don't think I'm making it out alive."

Nick frowned down at the red, mucky water surrounding Ellis. He glanced around hoping to see a sign of the others, but saw nothing. "Ellis, where are Rochelle and Coach?"

Ellis groaned and bit his lip. "Tank got Coach. Ro was running for cover to that house we were all headed for. When the Tank hit me I lost sight of her."

Nick nodded, glancing up over in the direction of the house. Through the rain he could see more zombies making their way through the downpour down the street. They couldn't stay out here much longer with Ellis down like that and he had to find Rochelle. He had to know she was ok.

"Well, looks like we're heading for that house again then."

Nick was bending down to pick Ellis up when he heard the growing cries of a small horde of zombies running in their direction. He could just barely make them out, but they were closing in fast. _Shit. _

Ellis had his arms raised, fingers at the triggers of his pistols, and a wicked grin on his face. "Much obliged, Nick, but why don't you go ahead on over to the house and see about Ro? I'll take care of these sons a bitches for ya."

Nick hesitated for a moment, his finger pressed on the trigger of his assault rifle, and then started to sprint towards the house to his right. He called back through the wind, rain, and gun shots. "Ellis…Bless your little inbred heart."

Nick ran through the pelting rain and the flooding street as fast as his legs could go in the wind. He quickly shot down the few straggling zombies in his path. Finally, he had reached the door of the small house. He yanked it open and stepped inside slamming and locking the door shut behind him for good measure. It was even darker in the house than it had been outside and he was still standing in ankle deep water. A roar of thunder and a quick flash of lightning lit up the room and he didn't see any traces of zombies or Rochelle.

He clicked his flashlight on and kept his gun ready just in case. "Rochelle, you in here? Rochelle?"

Nick started walking for the staircase, feeling relief as he finally wasn't standing in water anymore. Of course, his body was still soaked from head to toe, but it felt good nonetheless. His white suit was already ruined, but at least the rain had washed off some of the blood. Leave it to him to steal a white suit to wear during the goddamn zombie apocalypse. He was almost at the top of the staircase and still hadn't heard anything except for the pelting rain and wind.

"Rochelle?" He called again at the top of the stairs.

"Right here, Nick." Her voice was so faint he barely even heard it.

He turned to his left and looked down the small hallway. Rochelle was backed into a corner, her pink Depeche Mode shirt ripped to shreds revealing several long gruesome gashes extending from her arms down to her stomach. She was in very bad shape. He swallowed hard and walked to her, kneeling down next to her. He set his assault rifle on the floor next to him.

"Sweetheart…What happened?"

Shaking, Rochelle looked up at Nick, managing a smile. "Witch got me. I know I look bad, but I'd say that crying bitch looks worse than I do."

Nick smiled back at her. "That's my girl."

Rochelle's smiled faded and her face grew worried. "Nick…Where are the others?"

He let out a heavy sigh. "Looks like it's just you and me now, sweetheart."

Rochelle's brown eyes closed for a few moments before they opened back up, glazed with tears, to look at Nick. He sat across from her in the corner and she could tell just by the way he was looking at her that she probably wasn't even going to be around much longer either. She knew it hurt and knew it looked pretty bad, but she had been in denial. She had sat here with the rain pounding down outside and her body wanting to shut down in pain just thinking about how far she had come.

Rochelle had come down here to Savannah from Cleveland to get the big scoop on what was going on down here with this flu. She had been so excited to get the chance of a lifetime for her career and she was determined to do this right. Little did she know her chance of a lifetime would come at the virtual end of all life as anyone had ever known it. The scoop she went down here to get was a Savannah almost completely overrun by zombies. Oh and not just any zombies like the slow walking, brain eating ones she was used to seeing in horror movies, but ones with glowing yellow eyes that ran fast for you. As if the regular zombies weren't enough, somehow the virus had mutated so much to create Smokers, Hunters, Spitters, Jockeys, Chargers, Boomers, Witches, and Tanks. All of it combined had been a nightmare far worse than anything any horror movie had ever showed her. She had wound up smack dab in the middle of Hell during the zombie apocalypse and all she knew was she wasn't going down without a fight.

Rochelle had met up with three other survivors in a hotel and from that moment on they were somehow thrown into this together. They had become a team. Coach was the big lovable overweight high school football coach who made you smile even in the face of death. Ellis was the cute, young definition of a hillbilly with such an optimistic almost childlike view on the whole situation that brought you some sort of comfort even in the worst of times. She couldn't believe they were gone now. They'd all been through so much together and had made it so far that she thought they'd all be able to make it out of this nightmare alone. Now it was just down to her and Nick. Nick the white suit wearing bad boy that was so cocky and full of himself…the kind of man she swore never to date.

When Rochelle had first met Nick she hadn't thought much of him. He got under her skin and really rubbed her the wrong way. Sure he was a good looking man, but that was part of his plan to con you in with his good looks to get what he wanted out of you and then leave you hanging dry. But in the few short weeks since this whole nightmare started, Nick had sort of grown on her. He had become more than just a cocky egotistical bad boy to her. She still found him attractive and maybe she might even like him a little. Or maybe that was just her pain screwing with her brain.

Suddenly she started to became very cold and she couldn't feel much pain if any. She was becoming numb. She laughed in spite of it. _Damnit_. She had come this far to die like this.

"I'm going to fucking die aren't I?"

The smile was gone from his face now. He noticed her shaking and her face becoming paler. She was still losing a lot of blood. _No. Not her, too. Not her. _Maybe if he stopped the bleeding she'd be ok.

"Not if I can help it, sweetheart."

Nick slipped out of his white suit jacket and wrapped it around Rochelle's bleeding torso. He wrapped it tight around her and caught her staring at him, a smile on her lips again.

"What?"

"You're going to ruin your coat."

Nick tightened the coat more and locked eyes with her. "Don't care. It was already ruined at this point anyway. Plus it was a, uh, _loaner_ and odds are the guy I, uh, _loaned_ it from is a zombie now anyways. I don't think he'll be wanting the suit back if I run into him again so much as to just, you know, have me for a snack."

Rochelle continued to hold his eyes with hers and laughed lightly. "You're probably right. But then again maybe he has the right to want to eat you as a zombie because you stole that suit from him."

Nick gave her a half grin. "You got me all figured out now don't you, sweetheart?"

Rochelle lifted her hand and placed it against Nick's rugged, warm, and rain drenched cheek. Her voice was a soft whisper. "Almost. There is one thing I haven't quite figured out yet."

Nick froze in place when her cold hand touched his cheek. Every nerve in his body was suddenly alert. He felt more alive in her touch than he'd felt in a long time. _Shit. Told myself never to get involved in a damn zombie apocalypse. _

His voice was a low, deep whisper now. "Yeah? What's that exactly?"

"I haven't figured out if you're a good kisser or not."

Against all her better judgment and her own rough exterior, Rochelle let her guard down in that moment. She pulled his face to hers and placed her lips on his. He must have let his guard down too because his warm hand came up to her cheek as his expert lips caressed hers in the most heated kiss she'd ever had in her life. In that moment she forgot about everything but him.

_Damnit._ He hadn't wanted this to happen. He had never been good with relationships and had never let himself get attached to anyone. Now here he was kissing her like…like the world was ending and they desperately needed each other.

When Nick's lips finally parted from hers he whispered softly, his lips still close to hers. "What's the verdict, sweetheart?"

Rochelle placed a small kiss on his lips again. "You've got it all, Nick. The looks with the bad boy appeal, the ego, and the kiss that could bring a strong woman like me to her knees."

He kissed her again. "That sounds about right. You're not so bad yourself, sweetheart."

Rochelle was feeling even colder, her vision starting to blur and she could feel herself shaking. The only warmth she could feel was from Nick and it felt so nice. She didn't want to be cold anymore and as much as it pained her to have to ask him she did it anyways.

"Hold me, Nick. You're warm and I don't want to be cold anymore."

Nick leaned back up against the wall and pulled her into his arms, holding her to him. She was so cold in his arms, but he was still convinced this wasn't it for her. _Not now. Not like this._

They sat there in silence for a few minutes until Nick finally spoke. "Hang in there, sweetheart. Don't leave me alone. I'm tired of running alone."

There was no reply from Rochelle. He moved her in his arms to look at her face, gently shaking her. "Sweetheart?"

Nick couldn't deny it any longer. He hadn't been able to save her. His attempts had only been enough to make her comfortable before she died. She looked peaceful and it would be damn selfish of him to be upset with her for dying on him. Rochelle, Ellis and Coach no longer had to live this nightmare. They were free. It was up to him to fight on his own and get out of this hell alive.

Bowing his head down, Nick placed his lips to Rochelle's cool forehead one last time. He swallowed a lump in his throat and grit his teeth together. He placed her gently down on the floor and let his fingers graze across her cool cheek once more. He stood up and glanced out the window. The lightning flashed revealing a few hundred zombies out in the street. _Perfect._ He could either stay here and let them come to him and probably kill him in this small closed in space or he could go out there and fight like a man. He knew his choice. He wasn't giving up. None of them would have. He was going to make it out of this or die trying.

Nick grabbed his own assault rifle and picked up Rochelle's as well. He took one more glance at her and headed back down the staircases, his heart beating faster than it ever had before. _This was it. No going back now. _He felt the shock of cold as his feet stepped back down into the flooded water that was now up to his knees. He got to the door and unlocked it, feeling the sweat forming on his forehead. The sound of the rain was drowned out by the sound of his own pulse radiating through his body.

Placing one assault rifle on his back, he held the other in his sweaty grip, his finger on the trigger. He took a deep breath and kicked out the door, walking outside into the flooded streets of Hell. Even through the thick green rain he could see their glowing eyes and heard their screams. _This was going to be good._

Nick smiled then, his gun firing away at the horde, and yelled into the night, "Come on, you bastards. Come get me! I dare you!"

"_Good men through the ages tryin' to find the sun / And I wonder, still I wonder who'll stop the rain?"_

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**Author's Note - **I know this isn't much, but I play the games (both 1 and 2) so much and have been wanting to get out at least a short oneshot pairing Nick and Rochelle. I was in a writing challenge for the month of October (2010) and finally had the motivation to get this particular piece down. The title and the italicized quotes are from the song "Who'll Stop the Rain?" by Creedence Clearwater Revival. Got the idea one day when it was raining, my fiance and I were playing the Hard Rain campaign and I heard that song. I enjoyed writing it and thought since I posted it for the writing challenge there'd be no harm in sharing it here. Hope you enjoy it! Thanks for reading!


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